Good Jews

By Eric Rozenman (January 2023)

The Jew, Etc., Etc., R.B. Kitaj, 1989–2004

Jew-free neighborhoods
In Jerusalem will bring peace
So they say
Like a Jew-free Gaza
Or Galilee or maybe Galicia
Maybe not Jew-free
But Zionist-free. Good Jews
Could stay, so they say
Sometimes, assuming bad Jews—
That is Zionists, and the ultra-Orthodox
And right-wing nationalists and left-wing
Cultural elitists they must go and quickly now.
We don’t want war
Do we? The good Jews
The quiet ones who know their place
Can stay in it, quietly. Let them dream
Just don’t let them act
Like bad Jews who want to be free
Or equal or anything but quiet
Very quiet.
Good Jews.

Table of Contents

Eric Rozenman is author of Jews Make the Best Demons: “Palestine” and the Jewish Question (2018, New English Review Press) and From Elvis to Biden, Eyewitness to the Unraveling; Co-Starring Nixon, Warhol, Clinton, The Supremes and Obama! (forthcoming this September from Academica Press). 

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